25 injured as HK-bound jet hits turbulence

HONG KONG: Twenty-five people were injured when a passenger jet from South Africa to Hong Kong hit turbulence on Wednesday, police said, with two men seriously hurt and hospitalized in the southern Chinese city.

Local television images showed ambulances on the tarmac at Hong Kong’s airport taking away the injured, who were on a South African Airways jet from Johannesburg which landed at around 12:30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. Manila time).

Hong Kong airport authorities said they were notified by the plane’s captain at 11 a.m. that they would need help from emergency services when they came into land.

“There was a plane that flew in from South Africa that saw multiple passengers injured when it encountered turbulence,” a police spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse.

Twelve men and 13 women were injured, police said, with two men seriously hurt. Details of their injuries were not immediately known.

South African Airways could not immediately comment when contacted by Agence France-Presse but an online flight tracking system said the plane was a four-engined Airbus A340-300.

Authorities could not confirm the total number of passengers on board.

South African Airways is the country’s national carrier and one of the continent’s leading airlines.